MY FIRST MISSION TO BHUTAN
them and the flourishes some of them gave as they dumped their presents with a bang on the floor and whipped out their scarves to their full length.
When these congratulations came to an end tea and refreshments were offered to all the company of guests, including the lamas in the aisles, who at each course intoned a sort of grace. Finally betel and pan were distributed.
At the commencement of the feast a large cauldron of murwah, or native beer, was placed at the lower end of the nave, and an unusual ceremony—at least, it was unusual to me—was gone through. The Zung Donyer, with a long, bowl-shaped ladle, mixed the liquid three times, and, holding up the bowl full of beer in one hand, raised the other in prayer. This ceremony he repeated three times, and then advanced with his ladle full to the Deb Raja, who blessed it; he then turned to the Tongsa, upon whose hands a small portion was poured; and finally the Donyer returned and poured the remainder into the cauldron, which was then removed, doubtless for the refreshment of the crowd of onlookers who were not of sufficient importance to share the tea and refreshments dispensed in the Durbar Hall. Next, with great ceremony, a wooden spear, with a piece of red cloth and a white silk scarf fastened to the base of the head, was carried to the Deb and blessed; it was then waved over the Tongsa, who reverently touched the end of the shaft. The spear was then sent to the Tongsa’s apartment. The final act in the ceremonial was a short prayer, led by the Deb and intoned by the lamas, and with this the proceedings ended and we returned to our camp.
It was a most interesting ceremony, and was conducted throughout with the greatest order and reverence, and passed off without a hitch of any kind. It says a great deal for the change in the conduct of affairs in Bhutan and the anxiety to show respect to the British Government that they should have made the presentation of the decoration to the Penlop the first occasion of so public and elaborate
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